Politics + Government
SNAP work requirements don’t get more people working, but they do limit availability of food aid
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cut spending, in part by expanding work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through which nearly 43 million low-income Americans get help buying groceries. The House bill calls for this policy to apply to adults as old as 55, while today this policy only […]
Credit bureau CEOs face tough questions at Senate hearing; Democrats push to remove medical debt
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators grilled the executives of three major credit reporting bureaus Thursday on whether their practices are transparent and fair to consumers, with Democrats frequently pressing the CEOs to remove medical debt from the reports. Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said all […]
Lombardo proposal for ‘aggressive expansion’ of school vouchers gets icy reception from Dems
Ramping up the state’s private school voucher program to $250 million in funding annually. Allowing cities and municipalities to sponsor their own charter schools. Providing grant funding for charters to help with transportation costs. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s Assembly Bill 400 attempts to make good on his campaign promises to make “school choice” a priority […]
Cortez Masto coddles mining. Again.
Two years ago, Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, in perhaps the most consequential individual achievement of her Senate tenure, single-handedly killed legislation to reform an egregiously industry-friendly federal mining law that was written more than 150 years ago. This week, Cortez Masto decided she wants to reform the General Mining Act of 1872 after […]
What Socrates’ ‘know nothing’ wisdom can teach a polarized America
A common complaint in America today is that politics and even society as a whole are broken. Critics point out endless lists of what should be fixed: the complexity of the tax code, or immigration reform, or the inefficiency of government. But each dilemma usually comes down to polarized deadlock between two competing visions and […]
U.S. House GOP plan would expand work requirements for food aid for older adults
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans could face higher barriers to food assistance under the U.S. House Republican plan to cut spending while temporarily lifting the debt limit, advocates say. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act proposes returning discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing […]
Play ball (government giveaway edition)
If Nevada doesn’t give Oakland A’s billionaire owner John Fisher $500 million, would he still relocate the team here anyway? Among people who study the impact of incentives on economic development, there is something called the “but for” concept, which asks, Would the business have gone elsewhere “but for” the tax breaks or public subsidies […]
Who wants to have a conversation on corporate landlords (and the taxes they do or don’t pay)?
If you are a renter, who owns your home? Who owns the advertising billboard you pass everyday on your commute to work? Who owns the casino where the event advertised on that billboard is happening? Who owns the office complex where you work? Increasingly, the answer in Nevada is a real estate investment trust, or […]
As future of abortion pill is weighed, Democrats in Congress see little they can do
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats appear lukewarm about pursuing reproductive rights legislation in a divided Congress, even as a federal judge in Texas considers overturning access to abortion pills nationwide. Interviews by States Newsroom with Democrats who control the Senate by a narrow margin found little optimism they could counter a ruling that could potentially […]
Nevada treasurer applauds Biden veto of ‘anti-free market’ bill
Nevada State Treasurer Zack Conine praised President Biden’s first veto for a bill that would have repealed a rule allowing asset managers to consider climate change, social and governance issues in their investment decisions. “It’s unfortunate that extremists continue to support anti-competitive and anti-free market legislation at the expense of our retirees,” said Conine in […]
Ending a pregnancy in 14 states leaves few options. Some are looking to Europe and India for help.
The pills came in a dark salmon-colored envelope sealed with a plastic covering that traveled more than 7,000 miles, over a dozen time zones from Nagpur, India, in almost exactly one week. They were placed partially under the doormat of a home in a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the […]
No, nobody’s raising your property tax rate. But they should.
Which radical woke liberal state imposes a bigger residential property tax burden than Nevada? Texas! So does the purportedly “free state” of Florida. Property tax burdens are higher in a bunch of other self-styled freedom loving – i.e, reliably red – states, including but not limited to Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, Missouri, Kentucky, […]